which a whole people have openly contemned the injunctions of law, and trodden under foot a penal statute? And to what else but the grinding and demoralizing influence of paper fluctuations is to be ascribed the lasting odium of such gross immorality? *

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In former times of ignorance and despotism the governments of Europe did hold and exercise the same power by debasing the coin. They were frequently, however, driven from their purposes by popular indignation; and for the last hundred years none of them could have exercised this power without producing bloodshed and revolution. No nation in Europe is so tame and apathetic as to tolerate from its government the complication of evils which the issuers of paper money have inflicted upon the people of this State. *

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Among the many evils inflicted on the people of this State, by the late explosion of "the credit system" bubble, not the least will be found in the impolicy, injustice, and profligacy of the laws which it has already produced and will yet generate. The stop laws, the mortgage act, the suspension law, and the Draconian statute of usury, have already confounded the dealings and shocked the moral sense of mankind. Capital, which always abhors insecurity, and which flies from the frauðulent gripe of ex post facto legislation, will, in many instances, retire from among us and seek investment in other countries.

A host of hungry applicants and defeated speculators are now pressing upon the legislature old and rejected claims and forlorn projects with new zeal and combined exertions. And, from the samples of success which have already crowned their efforts, it is probable that the present session will be signalized by as much reckless profligacy as many of the preceding. That part of the late paper credit system which consisted of lithographic maps of sequestered cities, some above and some under water, has fallen to a greater discount than bank promises; and legislative wisdom will probably perceive as much justice in affording indemnity by a public tax to the issuers of maps as to the makers of promises. The bursting of the bubble has prevented the bank speculator from any longer preying upon individual credulity; but a State "credit system" of boundless loans, interminable debt, and perpetual taxation, will indemnify him for the loss of living dupes by a mortgage upon the land and labour of their posterity. To suppose that the managers of banks in this State did not foresee the late catastrophe long before the explosion, would be to impute to them a gross obtuseness of perception, and an ignorance of their business, which would be wholly unpardonable : but they seem to have proceeded boldly and simultaneously in expanding their issues in the most unprincipled manner up to the very time of the explosion. They doubtless believed that their vast pecuniary power would be able to control legislation; and in this they have not been deceived. The merchants, as a body of men, are always under heavy pecuniary responsibilities to the banks; nor dare they censure those institutions for swelling the "credit system" bubble, although its explosion has been more ruinous to the mercantile interests than to any other. As the business of merchants is buying and selling, uniformity in the currency and stability in prices are to them of incalculable importance; and yet, on the currency question, they have been constantly made the victims of inflated paper, and the dupes of political quacks and interested demagogues.

Had the managers of banks been personally responsible, and not felt an assurance that legislation would interfere and cast the whole infliction for their transgressions upon the community, they would not have dared thus recklessly to have sinned against the monetary laws, nor to have inflated the paper bubble up to the very period of its explosion.

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The injuries which, by thus changing the standard of value, they have inflicted upon the tenure of property are ten thousand times greater than all the losses produced by the combined burglaries, thefts, and larcenies that have ever been perpetrated in this State. And yet they find numerous apologists among public officers, and a host of advocates in the halls of legislation. And, as though the absolution of the suspension law were not a sufficient stimulus to future transgression, new powers of paper infliction are conferred upon them at the present session.

At the time of the run upon the banks in the city of New York, and of their suspension of payment, they found it necessary to fortify themselves with guards, and to arm themselves with deadly weapons, lest they should be overwhelmed by the stormy waves of an indignant multitude. No bills less than five dollars were then in circulation. Had the additional elements of panic, alarm, and phrenzy, which are afforded by bank-notes of the lesser denominations, been combined with the tempest, there is no probability that any bank in the city would have been left upon its foundations. But these elements are now added to the former mass of explosive materials. The labouring and industrious citizen is now to receive his daily wages in bank promises. They are told by bank demagogues that paper is better than gold and silver, and that a promise is preferable to performance. Specie is now of very limited circulation; those who have possessed it since the revulsion cling to it, knowing its intrinsic value, and are exceedingly loth to exchange it for paper. And yet, in the face of this notorious fact, the devotees of "the credit system" loudly exclaim that the people of this State love paper much more than the "humbug" gold and silver. A degree of ignorance and stupidity is boldly ascribed to the people of this State which men did not possess even in the dark ages.

And it may be that even now the present apoplectic shock will be unheeded, and its cause regarded" with brute unconscious gaze." It may be that the mass of the community will again submit to the harness with all the apathy of indifference, and all the stolidity of beasts of burden, Or, if any galvanic spasms shall be manifested by the body politic, it may be that these convulsive efforts will be as fortuitously directed as the misguided fury of a maniac. The event will show to what extent human reason can be hoodwinked by the boldness of cupidity and the impudence of falsehood, when aided by a corrupt and time-serving press.

As the moral and physical power is always with the mass of mankind, the destiny of nations is within their own control. And, if the multitude will remain in ignorance and suffer themselves to be ground to the dust by despotism, to be cheated by demagogues, and fleeced by interested rulers and corrupt government, heaven is still just, and the per nalty is merited. “To suffer in vain,” says Bulwer, "is often the lot of the noblest individuals. But, when a people suffer in vain, let them curse themselves."

To the issuers of paper money is confided one of the most dangerous powers that can be committed to human control; and the penalty for its flagrant abuse, as exemplified in the late terrible revulsion, should no more be remitted than the crime of him who should poison a whole community or lay a city in ashes. Nor should this tremendous power ever be confided to irresponsible corporations.

THE MEMORIAL OF HENRY D. GILPIN, JOHN T. SULLIVAN, AND PETER wager, of PENNSYLVANIA, AND HUGH MACELDERRY, OF MARYLAND, DIRECTORS OF THE BANK OF THE UNITED STATES.

Appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate.

A case parallel to ours has never yet been exhibited in this country. It is the case of a subordinate corporation spurning at and virtually discarding the agents of those by whom it was created; paying no sort of respect to the exalted public sources whence their appointment immediately emanates; denying the true nature of their trusts; and nullifying, by preconcert and pretence, the law of the land and its ministerial officers. * * *

We found the accounts kept in such a manner that it was altogether impossible to ascertain from them the particulars of many large expenditures. The book in which they were entered was never, within our knowledge, exhibited to the board, and their nature was probably unknown to most, if not all, the directors. They embraced, especially under the head of stationery and printing, payments, the character of which did not appear in the account, but which, when examined, were found to be for very large disbursements to printers and publishers of newspapers.**

We were scarcely prepared for a course like this. Not only was all investigation refused-not only was our request for a statement of the expenditures denied-but on the instant, without even calling for or looking at the account to which we referred, without examination and without delay, a settled purpose was thus exhibited to continue and increase the expenditures-to conduct them in the secret and irresponsible way heretofore adopted-and to preserve in the accounts the same obscurity which already existed.

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Nor was it in regard to the public directors alone that the management of this institution presented serious causes of objection. The whole system is one which is calculated to exclude the board of directors from a proper knowledge of its situation, of the conduct of its officers, and of its policy as a great financial and commercial institution. The plan of transacting much of the business in secret committees has already been referred to in many remarkable instances, but, so far as our limited experience on some of the committees has enabled us to judge, very many objects which ought to be submitted to the inspection and approbation of the directors never come even before the standing committees, much less before the board.

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In a w word, from the moment we took our seats at the board, we have seen that the real business of the institution is not there transacted, nor

its real authority there exercised-that there exists beyond its control a power that can be and is exerted, promptly, secretly, and efficiently, from one end of the country to the other.

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There were also numerous bills and receipts for expenditures to individuals among them of Gales and Seaton, 1300 dollars for distributing Mr. Gallatin's pamphlet; of William Fry, for Garden and Thompson, 1675 dollars 75 cents for five thousand copies of General Smith's and Mr. M'Duffie's reports, &c.; of Jesper Harding, 440 dollars for eleven thousand extra papers; of the American Sentinel, 125 dollars 74 cents for printing, folding, packing, and postages of three thousand extras; of William Fry, 1830 dollars 27 cents for upwards of fifty thousand copies of the National Gazette and supplements, containing addresses to members of the state legislatures, review of Mr. Benton's speech, abstracts of Mr. Gallatin's article from the American Quarterly Review, and editorial article on the project of a treasury bank; of James Wilson, 1447 dollars 75 cents for twenty-five thousand copies of the reports of Mr. M'Duffie and Mr. Smith, and for twenty-five thousand copies of the address to members of the state legislatures, agreeably to order, and letters from John Sergeant, Esq.; and of Carey and Lea, 2850 dollars for ten thousand copies of Gallatin on banking, and two thousand copies of Professor Tucker's article.

During the second half-year of 1831 the item of stationery and printing was 13,224 dollars 87 cents, of which 5010 dollars were paid on orders of the President, and stated generally to be under the resolution of 11th of March, 1831; and other sums were paid to individuals, as in the previous accounts, for printing and distributing documents.

During the first half-year of 1832 the item of stationery and printing was 12,134 dollars 16 cents, of which 2150 dollars are stated to have been paid on orders of the President, under the resolution of 11th of March, 1831. There are also various individual payments, of which we noticed 106 dollars 38 cents to Hunt, Tardiff, and Co., for a thousand copies of a review of Mr. Benton's speech; 200 dollars for a thousand extra copies of the Saturday Courier; 1176 dollars to Gales and Seaton for twenty thousand copies of " a pamphlet concerning the bank," and six thousand copies of the minority report relative to the bank; and 1800 dollars to Matthew St. Clair Clarke for "three hundred copies of Clarke and Hall's bank-book."

During the last half-year of 1832 the item of stationery and printing rose to 26,543 dollars 72 cents, of which 6350 dollars are stated to have been paid on orders of the President, under the resolution of 11th March, 1831. Among the specified charges we observe 821 dollars 78 cents to Jesper Harding, for printing a review of the veto; 1371 dollars 40 cents to E. Olmstead, for four thousand copies of Mr. Ewing's speech, bank documents, and review, and the veto; 4106 dollars 13 cents to William Fry for sixty-three thousand copies of Mr. Webster's speech, Mr. Adams's, and Mr. M'Duffie's reports, and the majority and minority reports; 295 dollars for fourteen thousand extras of the " Protector," containing bank documents; 2583 dollars 50 cents to Mr. Riddle for printing and distributing reports, Mr. Webster's speech, &c. ; 150 dollars 12 cents to Mr. Finnall for printing the speeches of Messrs. Clay, Ewing, and Smith, and Mr. Adams's report; 1512 dollars 75 cents to Mr. Clarke for printing Mr. Webster's speech, and articles on the veto;

and 2422 dollars 65 cents to Mr. Hale for fifty-two thousand five hundred copies of Mr. Webster's speech. There is also a charge of 4040 dollars, paid on orders of the President, stating that it is in expenses in measures for protecting the bank against a run on the western branches.

An Address delivered by Nicholas Biddle, President of the United States Bank, before the Alumni Association of Princeton College.

Con

"Never desert the country-never despond over its fortunes. front its betrayers, as madmen are made to quail beneath the stern gaze of fearless reason. They will denounce you. Disregard their outcries; it is only the scream of the vultures whom you scare from their prey. They will seek to destroy you. Rejoice that your country's enemies are yours. You can never fall more worthily than in defending her from her own degenerate children. If overborne by this tumult, and the cause seem hopeless, continue self-sustained and self-possessed. Retire to your fields, but look beyond them. Nourish your spirits with meditation on the mighty dead who have saved their country. From your own quiet elevation, watch calmly this servile rout as its triumph sweeps before you. The avenging hour will at last come. It cannot be that our free nation can long endure the vulgar dominion of ignorance and profligacy. You will live to see the laws re-established-these banditti will be scourged back to their caverns-the penitentiary will reclaim its fugitives in office, and the only remembrance which history will preserve of them is the energy with which you resisted and defeated them.”

Extracts from the Remarks on the above-named gentleman's Address by the New York Evening Star.

And by whom are they thus stigmatised? By the hireling functionary of a gigantic moneyed engine, which has aimed at nothing less than imperial power, and which, overstepping all the demarcations of right and privilege, has boldly sought to bring the government and the people prostrate at his feet, suppliants where they should command: which has not hesitated to buy men "like cattle," and which has sought to control the public opinion by the most open and profligate bribery of the public press which, defying the will of its creators, the constitutional representatives of the people, has refused and avoided, in violation of the express provisions of its charter, all investigation into affairs which it is not to be imagined could bear the light. And finally, which, seeking its objects by the most daring assaults upon the liberties and interests of the people, started and pursued, with a fiendish disregard of all things else, an enormous scheme for the prostration of the credit of the country, its business, its capital, its resources; destroying, to the extent of its deleterious power over the moneyed concerns of the great trading community, all confidence, all relief, all hope; and only staying its hand when it became apparent that the energies and means of the country were beyond the reach of its malice. Such is the source from whence the present